Earlier this week, we talked about video game controllers and how they have influenced the player experience throughout gaming history. The controller is probably the most important aspect to a game since it is the device that allows players to interact with and play the game. In David O’Grady’s NES D-Pad essay, he states that “video game controllers are the tactile, in-hand hardware component of an interface, which in computing combines hardware and software with audiovisual representations to establish an interactive relationship between humans and machines” (HTPVG, 270). Controllers give you the ability to control a character on the screen which in turn, also helps develop a connection between the character and player. O’Grady gives the example of playing Mario in Super Mario Bros (1985) where he talks about player investment in Mario’s quest to save Princess Toadstool. Player input directly controls everything that Mario does whether it be running, jumping, or shooting fireballs. In this sense the player isn’t playing as Mario but they are Mario. When you fall into a pit or run into a goomba, you don’t go “Mario died”, you say “I just died and lost a life”. The player directly controls every action so every shortcoming or victory is because of the player’s input. “The controller, then, not only has the potential to recede experientially into screen objects and actions during video gameplay but also to forge a level of identification that turns the avatar into a heightened, even superpowered, extension of the self.” (HTPVG, 274) This is one reason why people play video games: to see the player character get stronger and succeed because the character is an extension of the self. 

A good controller is one that makes sense for a lack of a better term. The controller shape should be ergonomic and button inputs should all be easily within reach of your thumbs or index fingers. You should be able to access all of them without having to reposition your hands. An example of a poorly designed controller would be Nintendo’s N64 controller. With it’s forked design, players have to change hand positioning entirely in order to get access to the analog stick and d-pad. O’Grady referenced graphical user interface pioneers Alan Kay and Adele Goldberg in his essay when talking about good design where they said controllers and interfaces should be akin to playing a musical instrument; “with practice and mastery, the keys and strings of an instrument “disappear” and become an expressive, artistic extension of the brain and body of the musician” (HTPVG, 270). Good video game controllers should be designed in such a way that the player could easily operate it without having to give it too much thought. Once mastered, the player can fully experience the video game for what it is without having to struggle with learning the buttons and disrupting the flow of gameplay just to check where a certain button or trigger is. Nowadays, modern controllers mostly consist of a streamlined button layout with directional input on the left side of the controller and action input on the right side.